Razzin' frazzin' Wall of Force

Something which I still have not quite learned correctly about my D&D groups is: Never underestimate their ability to take a carefully planned encounter and kick it to the curb and then curb stomp it in ways I didn't plan for. This evening, for instance, had one of those exact scenarios. Bear with me now...

The enemies: Juggernauts, huge living stone constructs with six arms that would punch the shit out of anything in reach before running it over and potentially killing it right then and there.

The scenario: I admit I was stealing shamelessly from a Final Fantasy game, but there was a narrow passageway totally blocked off by the two huge monsters and they were going to slowly roll down the passage way and the players would be encouraged to fight balls almost literally to the wall trying to kill the creatures before they inevitably reached the players and started raping them with giant stone dildos (not literally, but you get the idea).

How they fucked it up: I totally forgot some of the spells that my players had access to, and of course that was the first spell that appeared, the Wall of Force. It was large enough that the Juggernauts couldn't get around it, over it, under it, and because the wall is largely unbalancing to the game, they couldn't destroy it either. So what was going to be a quick but nerve wracking game of "can we kill them fast enough" turned into an annoying game of, "we're killing them slowly at a distance while they're slowly killing us back." Wars of attrition, while effective, are sadly boring.

What I could have done differently: To be fair, nothing. I could have given the Juggernauts the disintegrate spell, but that's a one shot kill spell that would have made the creatures that much more dangerous. I could have given them short distance teleport spells, but that's really defeating the purpose of the monsters and really stretching what they're supposed to be able to do. If they weren't on Mechanus (the Clockwork Paradise, basically a plane of existence entirely composed of gears and cogs) I could have just had someone dispel the damn wall, but they're stuck on Mechanus for the time being and I'm just boned.

However, all in all, this doesn't bother me. One encounter doesn't go well? Not a huge deal. They've been through two now, and I have about a dozen left for them. Some aren't nearly as impressively planned out, others are even more planned out, but none of that matters. I had a blast tonight! Everyone, even if they were irritating the shit out of me by making my well planned combat backfire in my face, really seemed to enjoy the whole night. Even the messed up fight provided plenty of the other best part of the game: comedy. They hate Mechanus, but it gives me free reign to do weird and amusing things to them, and they definitely appreciate the new landscape in which to struggle and fight. And, much like the Hokey Pokey, that's what it's all about.

Also, making puns while in a plane entirely composed of gears cogs, is really easy! "Come on guys, let's get it in gear!" "That is a giant cog." "These cogs are making me testy!" Can you think of worse gear and cog puns than my tired ass? Do let me know!